Counties / Pennsylvania / Venango County

Venango County, PA

FIPS 42121 · population 49,801 · part of Oil City, PA

$134k
Zillow home value · 2026-06
The numbers

What this county costs and earns

Everything here joins on the county FIPS code, so each figure comes from the agency that publishes it with no name matching in between.

Zillow home value
$134k
▼ 0.1% year over year
Zillow ZHVI · direct
Median asking rent
$982
n/a year over year
Zillow ZORI · direct
Gross yield
8.8%
annual rent ÷ price, before costs
derived: rent × 12 ÷ price ✓
HUD 2-bed standard
$973
market rent is 1.01x the standard
HUD Fair Market Rent · direct
Independent price check

Do two methods point the same way?

Zillow estimates a current home value. FHFA tracks repeat mortgage transactions. Their growth rates should be read side by side, not averaged.

The annual signals disagree
FHFA five-year cumulative+43.9%not annualized · through 2025
0%ZILLOW ZHVI2026-06−0.1%FHFA HPI2025+1.9%
Annual changes use different methods and may use different periods. The comparison checks direction and magnitude; it does not create a blended estimate. Zillow county ZHVI pulled 2026-07-26; FHFA annual county HPI pulled 2026-07-28.
Owner-reported value$120k
Surveyed gross rent$795
Rent burden 30%+47.9%
Median year built1959
Housing composition

Who occupies the stock—and what it is

ACS 2024 5-year
18.5%vacant
26,244estimated housing units
Occupied tenure24.7% renter
owner 75.3%renter 24.7%
Structure mix78.8% single-family
Single-family 78.8%20+ units 1.9%Mobile home 10.0%Other 9.3%
ACS estimates describe the standing housing stock and occupied tenure. They do not measure current listings, transaction prices or asking rents.

Survey source: Census ACS 5-year — county housing value, tenure and stock · ACS 2024 5-year · pulled 2026-07-30. These values describe different housing universes and are not combined into gross yield.

Annual average covered jobs15,994▼ 1.5% from the prior annual release
Covered establishments1,212annual average reporting locations
Average weekly wage$987▲ 4.1% from the prior annual release
Largest private supersectorEducation and health services24.7% of disclosed private covered jobs
Local labor base

Jobs, pay and private-sector concentration

2025
0%COVERED JOBS−1.5%WEEKLY WAGE+4.1%Education and health services24.7%
Annual QCEW counts cover jobs located at reporting establishments. The industry share uses disclosed private covered employment; it is not a resident-employment measure or a forecast.

Workplace source: BLS QCEW — county employment and wages · annual county employment and wages 2025 vs 2024 · pulled 2026-07-31. QCEW counts covered jobs located in the county, not employed residents or the metro score’s CES/LAUS series.

County brief

What the local evidence says

01Decision frame

Venango County presents a cash-flow-versus-market-depth tension: the $982 median asking rent supports an 8.76% gross yield against Zillow’s 2026-06 median home value of $134,445, yet price and economic evidence do not establish resilient exit liquidity. Buyers able to inspect assets and operate through visible-supply and concession risk should investigate; investors dependent on quick resale, thin reserves, or generic flood assumptions should be cautious. Zillow’s value was down 0.11% year over year, whereas FHFA’s separately reported 2025 repeat-transaction HPI rose 1.91%; these are different measures and periods, not a blended appreciation rate.

02Housing economics

The yield is based on measured market asking rent before expenses, not a net return. The published 1.27% effective property-tax rate is a material carrying-cost input against that yield, but insurance, repairs, financing, vacancy, and utility evidence are not published, preventing net-cash-flow underwriting. HUD’s two-bedroom FMR is a payment standard, not a market-rent estimate, and must not substitute for the measured asking rent. Unit mix, rent dispersion, and property-level tax and insurance detail are also absent, so no asset-specific rent-coverage conclusion follows.

03Demand & competition

Realtor.com’s 2026-06 MLS listing-market evidence shows active listings increased 12.25% year over year and 22.26% had reductions; visible supply and seller concessions warrant checking current comparable listings, but neither proves closed-sale pricing or buyer demand. QCEW’s 2025 annual-average covered workplace employment fell; it is not resident employment or an unemployment measure. More tax-return households moved out than in, while incoming movers’ average AGI exceeded outgoing movers’ by $5,230, a mixed demand signal. Investor participation was 10 non-occupant purchase mortgages among 280 total purchases, limiting evidence that investors are the dominant buyer cohort.

04Risk & next checks

Dominant inland-flood exposure and modeled climate loss of 0.15% of building value per year raise a location-specific insurance and condition diligence issue, not a dollar-loss estimate. Verify flood zone, prior losses, replacement cost, coverage, and quote availability for each address. Obtain closed sales, lease comparables, vacancy, debt terms, and property-level operating costs; without them, exit-price validation, stabilized net income, and debt-service coverage cannot be concluded from county evidence.

Cities & communities

Where people live within Venango County

Census-recognized incorporated places and CDPs that intersect this county. The list does not pretend to include every neighborhood or informal community.

Population scale

Largest Census places

ACS 2024 5-year
Oil City city9.5KFranklin city6KSugarcreek borough4.7KWoodland Heights CDP1.6KSeneca CDP1.4KHasson Heights CDP1.4KPleasantville borough (Ve…759Emlenton borough*663
Bars use total place population, not a county-share estimate. An asterisk marks a place that crosses a county line.
Official directory

16 Census places

Population
  1. 01
    Oil City cityIncorporated place
    9,468
  2. 02
    Franklin cityIncorporated place
    5,984
  3. 03
    Sugarcreek boroughIncorporated place
    4,716
  4. 04
    Woodland Heights CDPCensus-designated place
    1,585
  5. 05
    Seneca CDPCensus-designated place
    1,439
  6. 06
    Hasson Heights CDPCensus-designated place
    1,351
  7. 07
    Pleasantville borough (Venango County)Census place
    759
  8. 08
    Emlenton boroughIncorporated place · spans 2 counties
    663
  9. 09
    Polk boroughIncorporated place
    615
  10. 10
    Clintonville boroughIncorporated place
    511
  11. 11
    Rouseville boroughIncorporated place
    460
  12. 12
    Cooperstown boroughIncorporated place
    374
Show 4 more places
  1. 13
    Kennerdell CDPCensus-designated place
    221
  2. 14
    Barkeyville boroughIncorporated place
    217
  3. 15
    Hannasville CDPCensus-designated place
    161
  4. 16
    Utica boroughIncorporated place
    157

Population is the total place-wide ACS estimate, not an allocated county share. A place crossing a county line is labelled explicitly. Source: Census ACS 5-year — cities and communities · ACS 2024 5-year · pulled 2026-07-30.

Risk, demand and competition

The three things a price does not tell you

01
Risk & carrying costFEMA NRI + Census ACS
Dominant hazardinland flooding

0.146% of building value expected lost per year

Effective property tax1.27%

$1,520 median annual bill

02
DemandIRS SOI household flows
Net migration-71

843 in · 914 out

Arriving vs leaving income+$5,230

$49,497 arriving · $44,267 leaving

03
CompetitionHMDA financed purchases
Purchases by investors3.6%

10 of 280 mortgages

investorother financed
Current listing pressure

What sellers and visible supply are doing

Realtor.com® Economic Research · county inventory 2026-06 · pulled 2026-07-28
Active listings115▲ 12.3% year over year
Median days on market59▼ 10.3% year over year
Listings price-reduced22.3%seller-concession signal
Median listing pricen/a▲ 0.1% year over year

Listing price is an asking price, not a closed sale. Quality-flagged county rows are withheld instead of displayed.

Bear case

What can break the county thesis

  1. Unpublished insurance, repair, vacancy, financing, and utility costs could reduce or eliminate the stated gross-yield advantage.
  2. Inland-flood exposure could produce address-specific insurability, coverage, or condition constraints not visible in county data.
  3. More visible listings and seller price reductions could make listing-market evidence a weak guide to eventual exit pricing.
Underwriting questions

Before pricing a property

How does measured market rent compare with HUD Fair Market Rent?

Median asking rent is $982 per month, while the HUD two-bedroom FMR is $973 per month. The FMR is a payment standard, not an asking-rent estimate.

How meaningful is investor purchase activity?

The record shows 10 non-occupant purchase mortgages among 280 total purchases, or a 3.57% investor share.

What does the labor evidence measure?

QCEW reports that 2025 annual-average covered employment at county workplaces declined 1.47%. It does not measure resident employment or unemployment.